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Getting back into nids but looking to make changes to my old playstyle. I still love my standby dual flying tyrant triple tervigons, but am looking to switch out the current hiveguard I generally take for both a unit of 10 ymgarls as well as a doom in pod. With the extra points I would have left in large games, I am thinking about trying either zoanthropes in a pod or biovores, neither of which I currently own. I've tried harpies and found them dissapointing, and have never had good luck with trygons. I've also heard good things about gargoyles, and was thinking about maybe pulling out my swarmlord/tyrant guard for 2k games. I'm wondering what units tyranid players are finding to be more unexpected MVPs.

I played nids for a while (not in 6th) but honestly, I'd say just run the termagants really. I've outshot GK's in 5th ed with devourer-gants podded in, granted it was expensive, but holy crap was it devastating.

Mawlocks are pretty scary, and anything hanging out on the table is just begging to get nuked. They aren't bad points wise either for what they can do. I'd also recommend splitting the Ymgarl's into 2 groups

of 5 so they can fit in the terrain they will be arriving in. 10 is a bit much for one piece of terrain. Also, swarmlord is stupid expensive, plus the pts for hive guard. I mean, MAYBE he'll get Iron arm, but It's a 50/50

chance I believe. I'd say do venomthropes, and nidzilla it across the table with a 5+ for anything nearby. that will save 33% of the wounds. The doom is a good choice though, I always brought him, and he always

managed to do something useful.

I've had good results from devilgants in a spore and surpisingly a dakkafex in a spore. The Swarmlord's very powerful, especially with access to Biomancy.

3 Zoanthropes in a pod with psychic shriek is devastating. It will melt a squad of pretty much anything. I also use them to take out stuff like the Wraithknight.

They combine with the Doom really well.

Gargoyles are really good too. They're fast, scoring in some missions and with poison and adrenal glands (always give them full upgrades) they can take down pretty much anything from a GUO to a mob of ork boyz. Always take 30 if you can, never less than 20.

Biovores are hit or miss... the multiple barrage rules makes it hard to hit a small squad of something due to the fact you scatter off the first template rather than rolling for each.

Honestly, if you want to have something that can go across the board and drown something with wounds that ignore cover... look at pyrovores... They cost the same, minus the pod, but are a lot more effective at killing backfield troopers holding objectives. They also have the ability to drop in and take a few hullpoints by shooting rear arch on vehicles. My last game I immobilized a dreadnought with them and wrecked it on the following turn.

If you have 30 points look at spore mines, they're really good at deepstriking behind your opponent's aegis wall and messing up his deployment plans.

Thatguyoverthere11 wrote:
3 Zoanthropes in a pod with psychic shriek is devastating. It will melt a squad of pretty much anything. I also use them to take out stuff like the Wraithknight.

They combine with the Doom really well.

Gargoyles are really good too. They're fast, scoring in some missions and with poison and adrenal glands (always give them full upgrades) they can take down pretty much anything from a GUO to a mob of ork boyz. Always take 30 if you can, never less than 20.

Biovores are hit or miss... the multiple barrage rules makes it hard to hit a small squad of something due to the fact you scatter off the first template rather than rolling for each.

Honestly, if you want to have something that can go across the board and drown something with wounds that ignore cover... look at pyrovores... They cost the same, minus the pod, but are a lot more effective at killing backfield troopers holding objectives. They also have the ability to drop in and take a few hullpoints by shooting rear arch on vehicles. My last game I immobilized a dreadnought with them and wrecked it on the following turn.

If you have 30 points look at spore mines, they're really good at deepstriking behind your opponent's aegis wall and messing up his deployment plans.

Biovores are amazing, with BS 4 and the ability to place direct hits on multiple barrages they're quite reliable.

Pyrovores are terrible, BIovores outperform them in every way, the only reason I'd ever take Pyrovores is if I'm tailoring against someone I know likes to take big units of Pathfinders.

I've tested Spore Mines and they've never failed to disappoint me, they're useless against lots of armies and even the ones they are useful against they're at most a minor annoyance.

 PrinceRaven wrote:

Thatguyoverthere11 wrote:


Biovores are amazing, with BS 4 and the ability to place direct hits on multiple barrages they're quite reliable.

Pyrovores are terrible, BIovores outperform them in every way, the only reason I'd ever take Pyrovores is if I'm tailoring against someone I know likes to take big units of Pathfinders.

I've tested Spore Mines and they've never failed to disappoint me, they're useless against lots of armies and even the ones they are useful against they're at most a minor annoyance.

Biovores are BS 3 right?

Pyrovores are neat because they have heavy flamers which are usually inacxessible. In my last game I played against a heavy deathwing list with a couple of riflemen dreads. I knew I'd be worthless against the terminators so I dropped behind a dread and flamed rrear armor. I immobilized it and then wrecked it on the nxt turn. I then went on to kill a terminator in assault and the game ended. I only lost a wound on one guy. Single example but there it is.

If your opponent plays tau with a aegis line to hide his FW beh ind how much do you think he'll really want to set up back there if youve droppedspore mines behind the wall?

Thatguyoverthere11 wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:


Biovores are amazing, with BS 4 and the ability to place direct hits on multiple barrages they're quite reliable.

Pyrovores are terrible, BIovores outperform them in every way, the only reason I'd ever take Pyrovores is if I'm tailoring against someone I know likes to take big units of Pathfinders.

I've tested Spore Mines and they've never failed to disappoint me, they're useless against lots of armies and even the ones they are useful against they're at most a minor annoyance.

Biovores are BS 3 right?

Pyrovores are neat because they have heavy flamers which are usually inacxessible. In my last game I played against a heavy deathwing list with a couple of riflemen dreads. I knew I'd be worthless against the terminators so I dropped behind a dread and flamed rrear armor. I immobilized it and then wrecked it on the nxt turn. I then went on to kill a terminator in assault and the game ended. I only lost a wound on one guy. Single example but there it is.

If your opponent plays tau with a aegis line to hide his FW beh ind how much do you think he'll really want to set up back there if youve droppedspore mines behind the wall?

Biovores are amazing, but yes they are BS 3. And I really don't think Pyrovores are neat, at all. The example you gave was... really unlikely to actually depend on happening. I mean, a GK Rifledread, if you failed to kill it, would turn around and whipe out the whole unit. Also, Spore Mines are decent... if you're tailoring against Tau with an Aegis line. Heading into a game with an unknown opponent, they are so horrible I want to melt them down and sell the pewter for 1 cent.

Yeah - I took 2 biovores to a GT this weekend convinced they'd be worth the 90 points.

I think I caused 1 wound all weekend. Maybe 2. Not just poor dice rolling (there was some of that) but not too many places to put the markers and have them do much.

rigeld2 wrote:
Yeah - I took 2 biovores to a GT this weekend convinced they'd be worth the 90 points.

I think I caused 1 wound all weekend. Maybe 2. Not just poor dice rolling (there was some of that) but not too many places to put the markers and have them do much.

What armies did you face? And did you not kill a single transport all game?

Eldar - hammer and anvil, never had range on anything worth shooting (rangers in area terrain)

Necron/Tau - I tabled him turn 4 so the Biovores didn't have much to shoot at - what they did shoot at they scattered. (When it was obvious how the game was going I skipped firing the vores instead of rubbing in the loss)

Necron - wraith wing, Biovores died to Anni barge shooting turn 1 or 2.

Necron/Tau - hammer and anvil, died turn 3.

C:SM - tried to force wounds on terminators... Might have killed 1, don't remember.

Tau/Ork - made his Riptide and Commander run away on turn 1 before they had a chance to move or fire. This is where the vores did the most damage, but even then I think they killed 3-4 boys (with invul).

rigeld2 wrote:
Eldar - hammer and anvil, never had range on anything worth shooting (rangers in area terrain)

Necron/Tau - I tabled him turn 4 so the Biovores didn't have much to shoot at - what they did shoot at they scattered. (When it was obvious how the game was going I skipped firing the vores instead of rubbing in the loss)

Necron - wraith wing, Biovores died to Anni barge shooting turn 1 or 2.

Necron/Tau - hammer and anvil, died turn 3.

C:SM - tried to force wounds on terminators... Might have killed 1, don't remember.

Tau/Ork - made his Riptide and Commander run away on turn 1 before they had a chance to move or fire. This is where the vores did the most damage, but even then I think they killed 3-4 boys (with invul).

I find that Biovores are great against every army except Necrons and Terminator-wing. Even if your opponent mech-spams, just hide out of LoS and pop the transports, then drop the barrages on him. This past weekend I had great success with them, even as the target of lots of shooting they proved deadly to many Tau and Kroot (and Space Marines, and Eldar Guardians) that day.

Ill be honest here, but pyro's are simply rubbish.
You need to get close to do damage with a model that dies far too easily and costs too much for what it does.

Bio's are great, ill allways take 1-2 units of 3 of them.
And in anything over 1,500 ill consider taking a 3rd unit of 3, simply for the fire they can lay down.

Anyone actually take pyrovores? I'm just wondering why it's a worse unit. It's almost the same except I buy a pod for the pyrovores.

Because pyro's drop, fire once, then die.

Bio's can sit back and keep firing safely out of small arms range.

People tend to aim at the closest threat, so a unit with flamers next to them wont last the turn.
The bio's will usually have the rest of the nid army between them and the enemy.


So in the long run, bio's get to fire plenty more shots off before being shot to pieces.

My friend Alex uses a unit of two Carnies with 2 sets of TL Devourers, as well as a Flyrant with TL Devourers, and they just manage to completely destroy my Mech Guard...

 Jackal wrote:
Because pyro's drop, fire once, then die.

Bio's can sit back and keep firing safely out of small arms range.

People tend to aim at the closest threat, so a unit with flamers next to them wont last the turn.
The bio's will usually have the rest of the nid army between them and the enemy.


So in the long run, bio's get to fire plenty more shots off before being shot to pieces.

You must have better luck with your biovores than I do. I can never hit with them and they often scatter off doing minimal casualties. I KNOW where I'm going to hit with my pyrovores. And, I don't have to roll 3 direct hits to do it. Sure I don't get pinning, but I will take out a huge swathe of my opponent's models when I come on the field. I know I ignore cover, I know I'm AP 4 and I know which unit I'm going to kill when I land.

What are you using biovores against? Aegis line Tau? Okay, they might have a little advantage there depending on the amount of interceptor shots the opponent has. However, imagine the 2+ rerollable cover saves the Eldar get, or anything in cover. You ignore cover, rather than just intervening terrain.

Thatguyoverthere11 wrote:

 Jackal wrote:
Because pyro's drop, fire once, then die.

Bio's can sit back and keep firing safely out of small arms range.

People tend to aim at the closest threat, so a unit with flamers next to them wont last the turn.
The bio's will usually have the rest of the nid army between them and the enemy.


So in the long run, bio's get to fire plenty more shots off before being shot to pieces.

You must have better luck with your biovores than I do. I can never hit with them and they often scatter off doing minimal casualties. I KNOW where I'm going to hit with my pyrovores. And, I don't have to roll 3 direct hits to do it. Sure I don't get pinning, but I will take out a huge swathe of my opponent's models when I come on the field. I know I ignore cover, I know I'm AP 4 and I know which unit I'm going to kill when I land.

What are you using biovores against? Aegis line Tau? Okay, they might have a little advantage there depending on the amount of interceptor shots the opponent has. However, imagine the 2+ rerollable cover saves the Eldar get, or anything in cover. You ignore cover, rather than just intervening terrain.

Bio's are a nice large blast, barrage, so unless in area terrain you only get armor saves at ap4. And if you do scatter badly, you end up with spore mines on the table. I sjut find them far more useful.

Are people seriously thinking that pyrovores have any merits over Zoanthrope spam?

I have a pyrovore, plan on getting a second if i find one in metal.

they make great biovore models.

No, i have luck with bio's against just about every army except a necron air force.

Why do people keep bringing saves into it?
Weight of wounds does the job just aswell as a few low AP shots will.
Also, nids dont use shooting that ignores armour (with the exception of thropes)
So you need to compare the shooting to other nid weapons.

I mainly play marines though, and i find that bio's will kill 4-5 tac marines a turn, so thats paid for 2 of them in a single turn.


Also, and this is my main point, FOC.
Bio's compete with dakkafex's.
Pyro's compete with doom, thropes, hives and ymgarls.

Elites are usually stacked from the start, so adding in a less than useful unit just seems a waste to me.

 Jackal wrote:
I mainly play marines though, and i find that bio's will kill 4-5 tac marines a turn, so thats paid for 2 of them in a single turn.

That's insane luck ime. On average you're causing 12-15 hits to get that kill ratio and that's relatively poor play by your opponent.
Over the course of my C:SM game I clocked in 37 hits between his Terminators and tac squads that were close enough. I really don't think I killed more than 1 terminator with the biovores.

 Jackal wrote:
No, i have luck with bio's against just about every army except a necron air force.



Also, and this is my main point, FOC.
Bio's compete with dakkafex's.
Pyro's compete with doom, thropes, hives and ymgarls.

Elites are usually stacked from the start, so adding in a less than useful unit just seems a waste to me.

Best reason to use Bio over Pyro any way.

Just started using zoanthropes in pods. Ran them in a group of two and didn't have much luck with it. Wondering if making room for a third is a good idea to counteract having to get through psychic tests, deny the witch, and to hit rolls.

ralphinator wrote:
Just started using zoanthropes in pods. Ran them in a group of two and didn't have much luck with it. Wondering if making room for a third is a good idea to counteract having to get through psychic tests, deny the witch, and to hit rolls.

I use them in groups of 2 and I think they work fine. Never actually ran them in groups of 3 though, the problem is that 3 Zoans in a pod is 220 points, and my usual response to having 200 or more points left in my list is "yay, I can add a Trygon". Because Trygons are cool and doesn't afraid of anything.

 PrinceRaven wrote:

ralphinator wrote:
Just started using zoanthropes in pods. Ran them in a group of two and didn't have much luck with it. Wondering if making room for a third is a good idea to counteract having to get through psychic tests, deny the witch, and to hit rolls.

I use them in groups of 2 and I think they work fine. Never actually ran them in groups of 3 though, the problem is that 3 Zoans in a pod is 220 points, and my usual response to having 200 or more points left in my list is "yay, I can add a Trygon". Because Trygons are cool and doesn't afraid of anything.

Except Dreadknights.

Stupid high strength nemesis force weapons.